Conclusion

According to the findings of the lifestyle check conducted by Deputy Ombudsman Humphrey Monteroso on the Ampatuan assets and submitted by the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) to the Court of Appeals, the Ampatuan clan has at least 157 firearms of various calibers registered in the PNP-FED’s Firearms Identification Management System (FIMS) master file.

Of these 157 registered firearms, 23 are listed under the name of Andal Salibo Ampatuan Sr., and 26 under the name of Zaldy Uy Ampatuan. Eighteen guns are registered under the name of Andal Uy Ampatuan Jr., while another 15 are registered in the name of his brother Anwar.

(An earlier report by the PCIJ, quoting PNP-FED officials, pegged the number of firearms registered to members of the Ampatuan clan at 271, distributed among 103 persons with the surname Ampatuan.)

How then were the Ampatuans able to register so many firearms under their names?

Police Chief Supt. Ricardo Marquez, executive officer of the Directorate for Investigation and
Detective Management, said that the only way the clan was able to pull off such a feat is through the numerous amnesty programs offered over the years. This is because under the amnesty program, an applicant can register any number of firearms.

Marquez added that even long firearms are included in the amnesty program.

“The (limit) of only one-long, one-short is effectively overruled (by the amnesty),” he said.
Since 1992, the government has offered at least 12 amnesty programs.

But there is one more apparent loophole in the amnesty program that allows gun owners to collect and legally own high-powered firearms.

Under the country’s gun laws, private citizens are not allowed to own high-powered rifles of 5.56 mm or 7.62 mm.

These are the calibers of the standard M-16 rifle and the M1 Garand or the M14 rifle used by the police and the military.

The various amnesty programs, though, allow applicants to own high-powered rifles so long as they do not exceed 7.62mm.

This means that an applicant for amnesty can, once approved, legally own his own arsenal of high-powered firearms that are not available to ordinary citizens.

‘Designer guns’
A quick inspection of the list of firearms registered under the names of the Ampatuans, meantime, also reveals a proclivity, not just for high-powered firearms, but for “designer guns,” as described by one security consultant, as well.

Of the 23 firearms listed under his name, Andal Sr. owns an Israeli-made 5.56 Negev light machine gun, a belt-fed or drum-fed machine gun that is hardly for sporting use.

The Israel Weapon Industries website describes the Negev as “a small, lightweight advanced machine gun” that allows “accurate and fast controlled fire for close quarter battle or an automatic mode that allows maximum firepower.”

In addition, Andal Sr. owns a Heckler and Koch MP7 submachine gun, a new generation of submachine guns whose 4.6mm bullets can punch holes through bulletproof vests.

Manufacturer Heckler and Koch’s official website describes the MP7’s ammunition as capable of penetrating a bulletproof vest “comprised of 1.6mm titanium plates and 20 layers of Kevlar, out to 200 meters and beyond.”

Andal Sr. also owns 18 pistols and three other high-powered rifles.

Not to be outdone, Zaldy Ampatuan owns a Negev light machinegun, two HK MP7 submachine guns,
an HK UMP40 submachine gun, and two Israeli-made Tavor assault rifles, the same rifle now being issued to the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).

This number is aside from the 11 pistols and one shotgun that he owns.

Andal Jr. has 18 registered firearms, according to PNP records, and range from an OAR 556 rifle to a 5.7 caliber Fabrique Nationale submachine gun.

Expensive buys
A gun expert consulted by the PCIJ said that “designer guns” are very expensive, and hard to come by.

An MP7 can be purchased in the Philippines for P7 00,000 to P900,000.

The Tavor, with its bullpup design and built-in illuminated sights, can fetch anywhere from P600,000 to P700,000.

A Negev light machinegun, because of its functionality, would be worth around P 1.2 million.

In an email reply to PCIJ’s written queries, Andal Ampatuan Sr.’s lawyer, Sigfrid Fortun, dismissed suggestions that the Ampatuans had used the amnesty programs to build up their weapons arsenal.

“Whether they used the amnesty program to legitimize their possession of these weapons is arguable,” Fortun writes. “One thing is certain, though, when an unlicensed firearm is brought to the fold of the law and the PNP accepts it to license it, is this not far better than having loose firearms where the government does not even know exactly how many firearms one has in his possession? Now how can this submission to the fold of the law be immoral or illegal?”

Indeed, the argument is echoed by some police officials who see no problem with the liberal application of gun amnesty proclamations.

Marquez and Maligalig, for instance, both say that it is better to encourage gun owners to have their loose firearms licensed, than to have these floating around unregistered.

Maligalig says that the PNP-FED purposely made the amnesty proclamations more liberal “to ferret out” the loose firearms. “It was needed so that we could account all of those unrecorded.”

“The aim is to get the firearms registered, get their ballistic characteristics, and stencil them so that when they are used in a crime, they can be traced to their owners,” Marquez points out. “What’s the better situation, more guns that aren’t registered or have an amnesty program that has loose guns registered and stenciled?”

But he admitted that there is an aspect of gun control that does need immediate attention.
Over the years, only civilians have been strictly following the letter of the law on firearms purchase and ownership.

The likes of the AFP, effectively the biggest armed group in the country, apparently do not believe they have to follow such rules on firearms.

For example, Marquez said that firearms acquisitions made by AFP units outside of the regular arms dealers have largely been unregistered and unlicensed.

Maligalig also said that AFP arms purchases go “undeclared.”

They fancied guns
Fortun describes the Ampatuans as “public officials who, during their incumbency, fancied guns (like most Alpha males). This was public knowledge.”

Yet he also defended the large number of firearms registered under the names of the Ampatuan family members by saying that the clan “was used by and had assisted the government to fight the MILF [Moro Islamic Liberation Front].”

“Unsay (Andal Jr.) was in the forefront of these armed encounters,” Fortun said. “They were the ‘stay-behind units’ after the army completed its assault on known MILF territories. They took over and held the ground after the army had returned to their secure camps, and they kept the area they held MILF-free.”

According to Fortun, though, many of exotic firearms listed under the names of the Ampatuans were “gifts from constituents and others.”

A PCIJ report published in 2010 also mentioned the fondness of some Ampatuan family members to give guns as gifts.

Former Maguindanao Martial Law administrator Lt. Gen. Raymundo Ferrer said that he had been offered one of the Tavor assault rifles of Zaldy Ampatuan as a gift a few weeks after the Maguindanao massacre.

On another occasion before the massacre, Ferrer recalled having received a brand-new M4 assault rifle as a gift after a meeting with Zaldy Ampatuan.

He said that the gun was thrust on him by an Ampatuan aide while he was leaving.

A basic M4 assault rifle, without accessories, costs from $2,000 to $2,800 when purchased in bulk.